FLY WITH US, SAID THE BEE

A recent news telecast reported that the U.S. Air Force is funding research on how bees and other insects fly.* The project, said to cost $9 million is being conducted at the University of Washington. The research seeks to learn the flying secrets of such critters to enable development of more sophisticated and efficient aircraft.

In the telecast, the reporter stated: "when you watch in slow motion with the help of a high-speed camera, you get a whole new perspective on the mysterious and incredibly complex world, of insect flight. So how does a bee with such a giant body and such tiny wings actually fly?", he asked a researcher. Came the reply, "It beats its wings really fast, and you can't even see that."

The project is known as the Center for Excellence on Nature-Inspired Flight Technologies and Ideas. The emphasis appears to be on "Nature". As the researcher stated, "We look to nature. Are there ideas and principles that nature is using to solve hard flight control problems? Can we use those ideas to inspire new technologies, and can we use technology to deepen our understanding of how nature solves its problems?" To borrow and reverse a phrase from a well-known boxer, is the idea "to sting like a butterfly and float like a bee?"

It is interesting to see a situation where science is relying upon "Nature" to enhance human flight technology. Accordingly,"Nature" necessarily must have intelligent design which enables successful insect flight and which, in turn, is deemed instructive to human design.

On hot summer days, it is common to see honey bees drinking water at the edges of bird baths, puddles and ponds. Bees need water during the honey flows in order to process honey. Perhaps water researchers should examine how bees efficiently ingest water from such sources, transport it to their hives and purify it for incorporation in the honey production. Maybe Nature's design has another lesson for us.

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*PBS Newshour, July 17, 2015